Category: eupoliticalintegration

16 January 2019Members of the Lords, including a constitutional advisor to the Secretary of State for Scotland and an advisory council member of national debate forum These Islands, will debate the possible effects of Brexit on the stability of the Union of the parts of the United Kingdom, in the House of Lords on Thursday 17 January.

This is a general debate. They normally take place on a Thursday in the chamber. During debates, members are able to put their experience to good use, discussing current issues and drawing the government’s attention to concerns.The debate was proposed by Lord Lisvane (Crossbench), former chief executive of the House of Commons.Members expected to take part include:Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party), former Lord Mayor of Belfast and member of the Northern Ireland AssemblyBaroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour), Lords opposition spokesperson for exiting the EU and constitutional affairsLord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party), president of the Northern Ireland Assembly branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary AssociationLord McInnes of Kilwinning (Conservative), constitutional advisor to the Secretary of State for ScotlandBaroness O’Neill of Bengarve (Crossbench), member of the advisory council for national debate forum These IslandsLord Thomas of Gresford (Liberal Democrat), former Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Welsh AffairsLord Wigley (Plaid Cymru), former leader of the opposition in the National Assembly for WalesLord Young of Cookham (Conservative), Lords spokesperson in the Cabinet Office, will respond on behalf of the government.Further informationImage: iStockphoto

07 January 2019The Financial Services (Implementation of Legislation) Bill will have its committee stage, the first chance for line-by-line scrutiny, in the Lords on Tuesday 8 January.

Members are expected to discuss a range of subjects, including:limiting the new regulations to ensure there are no changes in government policy other than to reflect the UK’s status as a non-EU memberensuring the competitiveness of UK financial markets is not affected by EU withdrawalrequiring HM Treasury to begin reporting on the use of its powers by October 2019 and every six months thereafter.Baroness McDonagh (Labour) has laid a motion against the debate, recommending that committee stage of the bill be postponed until after the scheduled date for the Lords committee stage of the Trade Bill has been published in the House of Lords Business Paper.Lords second reading: Tuesday 4 DecemberMembers discussed a range of issues raised by the bill, including restrictions within the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 on the use of delegated legislation, the accurate number of ‘in flight’ pieces of EU legislation and shortening the bill’s regulatory period following a ‘no deal’ scenario down from the current twelve-month proposal.Lord Bates (Conservative), minister of state in the Department for International Development, responded on behalf of the government.Financial Services (Implementation of Legislation) Bill summaryThis bill will aim to provide the government with powers to implement and make changes to ‘in flight’ files of EU financial services legislation. The powers will last for two years after UK withdrawal from the EU, in the event of a ‘no-deal’ scenario.‘In flight’ refers to pieces of EU legislation that:have been adopted by the EU but not yet enacted, and so would not apply under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018are currently in negotiation and may be adopted up to two years following EU withdrawalFurther informationImage: iStockphoto